The present invention generally concerns an automatic answering phone using a device of generating an answering message and, more particularly, a method of making call transfer for elevating the efficiency of the call transfer in an automatic answering phone, by commonly storing an answering message, a call transfer message and a caller's message into a same memory region of a magnetic tape or a semiconductor memory circuitry device.
Conventionally, an automatic answering DP/MFC (Dial Pulse/Multi-frequency Code) telephone employs a microcomputer. By use of the microcomputer, a subscriber stores his message to automatically transmit it to a caller during his absence. Such an automatic answering phone performs several functions including automatically recording a caller's message, transmitting it to the subscriber presently at a different place other than his telephone, automatically dialing via a single button, adjusting the ring intensity, performing a call waiting, etc. Among these several functions, a network of making the call transfer to transmit the caller's message to the subscriber presently at a different place other than his telephone will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 1, which is roughly illustrating the call transfer.
An automatic answering phone 2 is called by a caller's phone 1, and then receives the calling signal through an exchange system 10, so that the automatic answering phone 2 generates a ring signal. If the automatic answering phone 2 is not hooked off (picked up) after a certain number of telephone ringing sounds, it automatically transmits the called subscriber's message to the caller 1, and records the caller's message on a recording tape. Thereafter, if the automatic answering phone 2 is set for the call transfer mode, it automatically calls a second subscriber's telephone 3 at which the first called subscriber is present. Consequently, the second subscriber's telephone 3 rings, and then is hooked off, which is detected by the exchange system 10. If the exchange system 10 transmits to the automatic answering phone 2 the signal that the second subscriber's telephone 3 has been hooked off, then the automatic answering phone 2 transmits the caller's message recorded on the tape of the automatic answering phone 2 to the second subscriber's telephone 3 through the exchange system 10. Namely, the automatic answering phone 2 transfers the caller's message to its subscriber who is present elsewhere. Meanwhile, the subscriber of the automatic answering phone 2 may send a signal identifying himself to the phone 2 by the second subscriber's telephone 3 in order to receive the caller's message from his phone 2. Thus, the call transfer is completed, and the automatic answering phone 2 is ready for the next call.
In such a conventional automatic answering phone, the call transfer message is not distinguished from the subscriber's message for answering the caller and therefore, when the automatic answering phone 2 transmits the call transfer message to the second subscriber's telephone 3 and another person, who is at the second subscriber's telephone 3, than the subscriber of the automatic answering phone 2 receives it, there is caused confusion.